Rao Anwaar-led Jan 12 encounter termed ‘extrajudicial execution’

The relatives of a man who was allegedly killed during a shoot-out with police officials on January 12 have claimed that he was abducted on January 3 and then murdered in an extrajudicial encounter.

They told The News that 26-year-old Naseemullah, alias Naqeeb Mehsud, was picked up by plain-clothes officials from Gul Sher Agha Hotel in Sohrab Goth on January 3. “We went to Sohrab Goth police station to register a complaint against the plain-clothes men, but the police refused to register an FIR,” said Naseem’s cousin Noor Rehman Mehsud.

He said police had claimed killing four terrorists during a shoot-out in Shah Latif Town on January 12, adding that after the suspects’ pictures were released, they found out that Naseem was among the men killed by a police team led by Malir District SSP Rao Anwaar.

Noor said they went to Sohrab Goth Edhi Centre to verify the media reports, and the centre’s officials confirmed that the body of the man they were looking for had arrived from Shah Latif Town.

He said they went to Shah Latif Town police station to get the body’s custody, but only after the passage of four days were they provided with a certificate to collect the body. The cousin said Naseem had been working for two steel mills at Hub Chowki, adding that before his killing, he had been planning to start a garment business in Sohrab Goth and had also rented a shop for it. He said Naseem was survived by a wife and three children who lived in Dera Ismail Khan, adding that the man himself had been residing in Sohrab Goth with his friends and relatives.  

Rao Anwaar’s version

SSP Rao Anwaar rejected the claim that Naseem was picked up by plain-clothes men before he was shot dead in an encounter on January 12.

The officer shared a confidential document with The News that claimed Naseem was a former Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander for Makeen in South Waziristan and that he was involved in martyring the Pakistan Army’s junior commissioned officer Muhammad Alam in 2007.

Anwaar said Naseem was involved in the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak in 2013, adding that he had killed his cousin Aijaz Mehsud in 2009 because he suspected him of spying for the army. The officer also said Naseem had served as a gunman for TTP leader Baitullah Mehsud from 2004 to 2009, adding that Naseem was motivated to join the terrorist group by his brother-in-law Sher Dawood Mehsud and that he was trained by the TTP’s Ustad Ali between 2007 and 2008.

The SSP said Naseem and his brother-in-law had carried out an attack on a military convoy in Makeen in which many soldiers and officers of the army had been martyred. He said Naseem, his brother-in-law and Sanaullah Mehsud had martyred two Karachi police officials in Manghopir, adding that Naseem was a close aide of TTP commander Wahab, who was involved in the attack on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s convoy on October 18, 2007.